Rob Stein
Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk.
An award-winning science journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Stein mostly covers health and medicine. He tends to focus on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. He tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women's health issues, and other science, medical, and health policy news.
Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper's science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR's science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor of the international wire service in Washington.
Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. He was twice part of NPR teams that won Peabody Awards.
Stein frequently represents NPR, speaking at universities, international meetings and other venues, including the University of Cambridge in Britain, the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, and the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer's workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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Attempts to use the gene-editing tool CRISPR to develop a treatment for cancer seem safe and feasible in the earliest findings from the first three patients. "So far, so good," scientists say.
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A new technique, dubbed 'prime editing,' appears to make it even easier to make very precise changes in DNA. It's designed to overcome the limits of the CRISPR gene editing tool.
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NPR was the only news organization allowed into the lab to witness the moment the releases began this year. The goal is to create a powerful new weapon in the fight against malaria.
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She's the first patient with a genetic disorder to be treated with the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR. The treatment has wrapped up, and now she's waiting to see if it brings relief.
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Researchers safely used CRISPR gene-editing techniques in a patient with HIV. The research provides evidence the approach may be promising for treating HIV infection.
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Researchers hope large numbers of very primitive, embryo-like structures will lead to new insights into early human development and ways to prevent miscarriages and birth defects.
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NPR got exclusive access to the only lab known to be trying to edit the DNA in human sperm, which raises all the same thorny issues as modifying genes in human embryos
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NPR visited the only lab in the world known to be trying to use the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR to modify the DNA in human sperm. If successful, it could be used to prevent genetic disorders.
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Victoria Gray, 34, of Forest, Miss., has sickle cell disease. She is the first patient ever to be publicly identified as being involved in a study testing the use of CRISPR for a genetic disease.
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Researchers hope these "embryoids" could provide crucial new insights into how to treat infertility and prevent miscarriages, birth defects and many diseases. But they stir ethical concerns.
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Analysis of DNA from more than 400,000 people in the U.K. suggests a genetic modification that protects against HIV may actually increase the overall risk of premature death.
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The modified fungus produces spider toxin that rapidly kills mosquitoes, raising hopes for a new weapon to fight a disease that sickens millions. But not everyone is convinced.